Chapter Text
The vigilante Deku, jumping between the high rooftops of Japan, just finished his nightly patrol. His mind was clear, though more empty, if he had to admit it. After only a few jumps, the blackclad vigilante gave up, opting instead to float across the buildings, through the night sky. It hadn’t been a very interesting night, though it was probably for the best, as Deku’s focus hadn’t exactly joined him tonight. Before Deku knew it, he was floating idly atop his own roof.
Seeing no one else around, Deku let himself float down, through the ceiling of his room, phasing through the plaster without a second thought. He undressed from his nightly costume, which wasn’t much more than a belt and hoodie, and pulled on some comfy lounge clothes. Deku, now just Izuku Midoriya, sat at his small desk. It was lined with uneven stacks of books and random papers. Most of the books were seemingly random, one read ‘Now You See Me’, another had a particularly large font shouting ‘MORALS’, while yet another was titled ‘The Art of Acting’. The scattered papers resembled police reports, journalism posts, cut out magazine images, and intricate drawings of people - heroes, villains, vigilantes, all there. I really should tidy all this up.. Maybe later.
A small rectangle of space on the desk was clear of the books, only a couple books were stacked, with his shut laptop resting on top. He opened his laptop, going straight to his blog, glancing at the time as the page loaded. Hm, got done a little early tonight, he thought to the time, 4 am. He skimmed over responses to articles and chats, most were either just thoughts from thousands of people who stumbled onto the site or recurring, recognizable voices. The site was his main public communication, where he’d not only reveal quirk discrimination, expose corruption in the current hero system, and give credit to underground heroes, certain vigilantes, and the importance of more than just name brand heroes like All Might, such as support item creators and quirk instructors, but also where he could see the response.
The vigilante Deku is well known throughout Japan, acting as a sort of urban legend. He worked in the field at night, dealing with mostly small-time villains, and during the day, his online status was active, when he’d post social justice articles. Some people thought Deku was multiple people, whether just a duo or a whole team was anyone’s guess. Others didn’t think he was even real, who could do such a thorough job anyway? Alas, Deku was simply a kid who wanted to be a hero. And despite being labeled a vigilante, he was pretty good at it.
With his regular check-in routine complete, he decided to continue working on one of his articles. Izuku sat typing in silence about an article about hero schools, particularly U.A., and their entrance exams. While he’d been working on the article for quite a while already, since the U.A. entrance exams were starting in just over a couple months, he figured now was just as good a time as any.
Izuku managed to complete the article and once he finished proof-reading his article, he posted it. Seeing as it was now almost 7 am, and his mother would wake soon, he shut his laptop and headed to the kitchen to prepare some breakfast for his mom. Following the.. incident, Izuku no longer needed to eat, drink, sleep, or even breathe, which came in handy, even if it still concerned his mother.
His mother soon came down, chatted, ate, and left for work, signaling Izuku to get to his own work. During the day, he didn’t have much to do, especially since.. he didn’t have school anymore. Over the time he’s been a vigilante, he has accumulated several new hobbies, mostly ones that help him in his vigilante work, and several part time jobs, to kill time and make himself feel useful.
On this day, he had only a few work hours. It was a Saturday, most of his workplaces, and there were several, were busier, yes, but almost all of them had overstaffed. Most of Izuku’s bosses were unnerved by Izuku’s seemingly endless energy, and some just felt bad for having him work so much, since he never took a day off. Izuku didn’t mind, all of the jobs were simply busy work, he didn’t get tired.. anymore nor did he have to try particularly hard at any of his jobs.
Whether a busy or tame work day, he would often go home to study. While he was no longer in school, considering he was no longer a person.., he did take online college courses to sharpen his wits. If he didn’t feel like studying, he may have just played strategy games like chess, or read books from his small collection that may have piqued his interest. To be frank, Izuku was pretty bored during the day, at least during the nights he could.. do some good.
Izuku easily finished his shift, somewhat eager to get home. He always was after publishing an article or post. He hadn’t checked his feed all day so far, and though most of the responses to any of his posts were usually just agreement or further proof of his points, or the occasional troll or disbelieving internet-goer, sometimes he got a real treat. Pro heroes had recently begun speaking on his posts, which not only had Izuku fanboying like crazy but also all the more motivated to post more articles.
He skipped home happily, arriving before his mother was back by a good half hour. He used that 30 minutes looking through comments, mostly just glancing over them, a certain one caught his attention. A small, quick comment written with odd, unusual characters. Izuku knew it couldn’t be some gibberish, the people reading these types of articles wouldn’t smash their keyboards and call it good. Quickly trying to decipher the message in his head, Izuku came to the conclusion that it was written in a common cipher. One most people wouldn’t bother to decipher, and it didn’t matter if they did, it was a message for Deku, and only really had meaning to him.
He read the user and smiled. The Rat God (was he even trying to conceal himself?) was going to contact him soon.